Summary

This 24 months long action aims at contributing to overall reduction in, (1) the number of visible (> 2.5 cm) litter items including plastic, fishing and sanitary litter items on coastlines; (2) the number of litter items per square meter on the sea bed including fishing related litter items on the sea bed from 2012 levels by 2020, in Odessa, in Ukraine; Bourgas, in Bulgaria; Guria, in Georgia and Tekirdağ, in Turkey via adequate collection, sorting, and environmentally sound disposal of min. 1,5 tonnes of litter from the sea bed and min. 0,5 tonnes of litter from coasts/beaches, in these regions. In this regard, main activities of the action will include project management activities, communication activities, integrating activities and joint zero waste activities, in which ILMM-BSE project’s already started Ecosystem Education Program (EEP) will be extended to Ukraine, Bulgaria and Georgia involving schools, NGOs and local media organisations in EEP activities for more public awareness. Target groups of the action will be 7-16 age group primary and secondary school students and their teachers, local fishermen and local communities. As a consequence, estimated results will include proper implementation of waste management legislation, reduction of marine litter on beaches and seas, improvement of residents and tourists’ waste related behaviour, creation of a monitoring programme, and the coherence of relevant initiatives contributing to reaching a regional Good Environmental Status (GES) based on, and guided by, ecological knowledge to achieve the maximum degree of ecosystem protection commensurate with the highest sustainable quality of living for mankind.